Electrical connectors are commonly used to terminate an electrical conductor for the purpose of electrically connecting the connector/conductor to an electrical device or to a different electrical conductor. A conventional electrical connector used to couple a wire to a bus board generally comprises a solid electrically-conductive metal body with a set screw for retaining the wire. In applications where the wire has a relatively small gauge, getting the wire to the electrical connector on the bus board does not take much time or effort, as it can easily be bent.
However, in applications utilizing wires having a relatively large gauge, such as 600 MCM wire, it is a costly and time consuming procedure to securely connect the wire to the electrical connector, which is secured to a bus board. One such connector is depicted and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,658. While such a connector is satisfactory for coupling the wire to the bus board, there remain some problems associated with coupling such large wires to bus boards using these types of connectors.
The large wires are directed towards the bus boards from a plurality of different directions. This requires the wire to be bent so that it can be inserted into an aperture of the connector at the appropriate angle. However, given the gauge of the wire, the act of bending can consume significant amounts of time and resources.
In addition, the resulting bend in the wire puts unnecessary strain on the nonconductive coating surrounding the wire. This can lead to weaknesses in the coating—which could lead to failure, resulting in exposing the conductive wire inside of the coating.
Further, if any mistakes are made in the bend (e.g., the wire is over bent), replacing the wire is very costly. Moreover, correcting the improper bend (by cutting the wire or re-bending the wire) may create weaknesses in the system and potential failure points.
In addition to the above problems that may arise using a conventional electrical connector with large gauge wire, many of the conventional electrical connectors utilize a set screw that has an inset hexagonal head. In other words, the set screw head receives a tool therein. However, in some configurations, electrical connectors may be positioned on a bus board such that engaging and tightening the set screw proves to be difficult—especially if the set screw requires a tool to be inserted therein for rotating same.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have an electrical connector that solves one or more of these draw backs.